Mahamana as a Journalist

“I do not know of any institution, neither school nor college nor university, which supplies such daily instruction to the public at large as a newspaper. We felt that the province would be best served if there was a daily paper not merely to expound the opinions which were entertained by educated Indians but also to guide them and to educate public opinion.”

Madan Mohan Malaviya, The Leader, 23 October 1929

Madan Mohan Malaviya, The Leader, 23 October 1929 Malaviyaji began his career as a journalist in 1880 and wrote his first article in a Hindi newspaper Pradeep Hindi founded by Bal Krishna Bhatt. His true interest in journalism grew from a small incident at the Kumbh Mela of 1882. Prof. Aditya Ram Bhattacharya and his brother, Beni Madhav, were agitating against the mismanagement and apathy of the mela organizers towards Hindu sentiments. Their agitation was for a right cause, but the government took repressive measures to harass the brothers and teach them (and others) a lesson, with the help of the judiciary at their command. The two brothers were hauled up to court and the malicious and malafide proceedings cost them a lot of money and endless mental and physical strain. The worst was that no one could help them.

This incident made a deep impression on young Malaviya, who is said to have ascribed his leaning towards active journalism. He relised that journalism could be used as a potent weapon to fight the repressive measures of the government or any biased decision of the judiciary.

Malaviyaji got some experience of editing when he started helping his teacher Aditya Ram Bhattacharya, the founder of the weekly, Indian Union, in 1885. Malaviyaji helped him in editorial work from 1885 to 1887. He again worked for the Indian Union , helping Baldeo Ram Dave, the younger brother of Sir Sundar Lal (an eminent advocate of Allahabad and later, the first vice chancellor of BHU), from 1891 till the weekly was merged with The Advocate of Lucknow in 1892.